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AQ Khan: Benazir stirs up a hornets’ nest

ISLAMABAD: The former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, has stirred up a hornets’ nest with a statement in Washington that if elected Prime Minister, she would give the International Atomic Energy Agency access to A.Q. Khan, known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.

Mr. Khan, effectively under house arrest since February 2004, is a revered national hero though he is a self-confessed nuclear proliferator.

Ms. Bhutto’s statement came in for condemnation by several political leaders, and the government, with which Ms. Bhutto is associated on account of her negotiations with President Musharraf for a power-sharing deal, also moved quickly not just to distance itself from it, but also condemned it.

“There is a strong reaction in Pakistan over Benazir Bhutto’s statement on AQ Khan. I think her statement is based on some wrong information,” Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem said. “Pakistan cannot allow any interference in its affairs. We have ourselves investigated AQ Khan’s case, we don’t think it needs to be taken up again.”

Ms. Bhutto said the IAEA would have the right to question Dr. Khan but not Western governments. Giving the UN organisation access to him would satisfy the international community’s desire to know more about his network. She also said a PPP government would hold a parliamentary hearing to determine whether he alone was responsible for selling Pakistan’s nuclear secrets or whether “other elements” were in it with him.

Leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal criticised the statement as a sell-out of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The PPP Ms. Bhutto’s stated “position is not very different from what the current government says or any other responsible government in Pakistan would say” and it was “unfortunate” that her words were being “distorted”.

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